Universal Music International
Max Hole
Chairman/CEO Universal Music Group International
Max Hole began last year with a promotion, effective Jan. 1, 2013, to chairman/CEO of Universal Music Group International, reporting directly to UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge. The move made Hole the top executive outside the United States at the world’s largest record company, responsible for all of UMG’s international operations. Hole also leads the company’s worldwide classical business, including the iconic Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Classics labels. Committed to growing Universal’s already considerable global market share, Hole made a number of senior appointments in 2013 that served to consolidate and strengthen the music monolith’s international operations. These included the promotion of Frank Briegmann to president of Central Europe, George Ash to president of Asia Pacific and Naoshi Fujikura to president/CEO of Japan. Hole also played a key role in the successful integration of EMI into Universal, although he stresses that “everything is down to teamwork.” The global success of Lorde and Avicii — who were signed by Universal teams in New Zealand and Sweden, respectively — was a recent source of pride for him. “It’s always exciting to break new artists,” says Hole, who’s also a member of UMG’s executive board. His aims for the year ahead to include “building industry consensus in Japan” to “kick start the second-biggest music market in the world back into growth.”